Union of the Night(Sequel to Walking the Shadows)

Ch31: Search for a dragon slayer and exceeds

Rogue's pov

I walked up to the edge of the ravine, looking down at what looked like a never ending fall. "How do we get down there?" Sting asked. "I'll fly you guys down, to at a time. Yukino, Levy, I'll take you two first" Phoenix explained, grabbing onto Yukino who held onto Levy. I went into shadow form and went down the side of the cliff that way.

When I got down, Phoenix had already got Levy and Yukino down here and now was half way getting Sting and Gajeel down. Once she had gotten them down, we all looked around for clues. "Guys over here" Yukino called as we headed over. She pointed at what looked like mud that had been moved about from someone falling.

There seemed to be 3 small ones and one human sized one. There were also footsteps leading through the ravine as we followed it. Soon we came across another mark that looked like someone had fallen. There was also blood and ripped clothes from 5 different people.

We followed the only pair of footsteps left as they led on for a long time. It started to get dark as we reached a sheltered section in the rock face. We sat in there as Phoenix made a quick fire using one of her arrows.

"This sucks. I can't believe we lost Starlight. Just after the two of you got engaged too" Phoenix sighed, shaking her head. "Wait what" Gajeel and Sting yelled. "You asked her. When did this happen?" Sting asked, shock written over his face. "When we were in Crocus. I thought Lily and Lector would have told you" I pointed out. 

They both shook their heads as Levy and Yukino looked super excited. "I can't believe your going to get married" Yukino cheered, giving a large smile. "When's the wedding?" Levy asked. "I don't know. We didn't even get a chance to talk about it because someone dragged us on a job 2 seconds after we got back" I replied.

"We should get some rest. Its getting late" Phoenix pointed out as Gajeel opened his mouth but closed it. I lay down and closed my eyes, falling asleep.

***

I sat up with a yawn, sun shining on my face. At first I was confused why the sun was shining on my face when I remembered where I was. I stretched and walked onto the mud, sniffing the air as I tried to catch a whiff of Starlight or Frosch's scent. 

I caught the scent and looked back to see that the others were getting up. They stood, giving yawns or stretches as they joined me. "I caught their scent. Its this way" I told them as I took the lead. We all walked along the ravine before mud splashed on us. I looked up to see that a crocodile had been thrown in front of us which had splashed mud on us.

"Its a crocodile" Yukino cried, stepping back in fear. The crocodile stood up and growled at something. I looked up and saw a lizard with dull grey scales and black fur on its tail and head. Horns were on its head and spines on its back. It had slitted red eyes and sharp teeth and claws. 

The crocodile crawled over to the lizard as it was hit by the crocodile. The lizard hit the ground, mud splashing on it before it got up and attacked the crocodile back. They kept fighting back and forth, both covered in mud and blood. The lizard then grabbed the leg of the crocodile and pulled on it, tearing it off. 

Levy covered her mouth as the crocodile used its over leg to slam the lizard into the ground. The lizard struggled under the crocodile before biting into the leg as it backed up before leaping at the lizard which ducked as the crocodile hit the spines, going limp.

The lizard then turned to us, baring its teeth and snarling. "Where did the lizard come from?" Sting asked, backing up a little. "Sting. Is that you?" someone yelled across the ravine. "Lector" Sting yelled.

"Please help. Starlight went crazy and turned into a lizard and started fighting the crocodile" Lector replied, his voice shaking. Starlight stalked forward, teeth bared.

Everyone prepared to use magic as I thought of an idea. Starlight leapt on Yukino as Sting punched her back in the shoulder as pain surged through my shoulder from the link. "Rogue. Are you OK?" Levy asked, looking at me with worry.

"It's the link. When Starlight feels pain, I feel it" I replied, a hand on my shoulder. That's when an idea hit me. "Everybody close your eyes!" I yelled. "Are you insane?" Gajeel asked, turning to me.

"Just trust me on this one" I told them. They all agreed to trust me and closed their eyes as I did the same. I could hear the sound of Starlight sniffing around but never once did I hear the sound of someone screaming in pain.

"She isn't attacking" Phoenix pointed out. "So I was right" I pointed out. "About what?" Yukino asked. "When I saw all of Starlight's memories, the times she turned into a dragon was the only time everything went black and white. Everything except eye colours. I figured that's how she tells if something is living or not" I explained. "OK. It's great that she won't attack us but how do we change her back" Sting asked.

"I'm going to open my eyes and try to open the locket around her neck" I replied. I slowly opened my eyes and stalked forward. Starlight's head snapped to me, obviously hearing noise and her eyes met with mine.

I gulped and looked nervously into her eyes but she didn't move, she just stared at me. I kneeled down and opened the locket, letting the music play as Starlight turned back to normal.

She collapsed into my arms, covered in blood and injuries. I noticed a large Scar that trailed from above her right eye, across her nose and down to her left cheek as blood dripped from it.

Something small flew into my chest as I looked down to see a mini Frosch. I turned to the others to see a mini Lector and a mini Lily. I looked at Starlight who also looked mini. In fact, the only one who didn't look mini was the girl who had fallen with them.

I decided to stay quite and picked up Starlight as she probably subconsciously buried herself into my shirt. I didn't do anything about it as I watched Frosch snuggle up into Starlight's stomach as we headed out of the ravine.